Knight-Ridder Article on U.S.- European Conflicts

[JPZenger]

Full text:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/8236395.htm

Excerpts:

"While most Europeans feel an affinity for Americans, it does not extend to a White House seen as rash and militaristic at a time when globalization requires patience and diplomacy.

"The last four years have been hell," said Francois Heisbourg of the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. "The Bush administration's view of things is, 'You're either a poodle or an enemy.' The Bushies don't tend to forget."

The across-the-pond name-calling - cultural bimbos vs. Euroweenies - has ebbed. But Europe has been reminded that it is less like the United States than it once thought...

But when the brandy is poured in clubs, or pints are hoisted in pubs, Europeans swoon over John Kerry, the continent's new poster boy.

"Kerry Has Europe's Vote," said an Economist headline.

The Financial Times Germany wrote of him: "His first cousin is a French mayor. His father was a diplomat. He spent school years in Switzerland. He thinks the death penalty is bad and thinks the Kyoto Protocol, intended to protect the global climate, is good. If the Europeans were allowed to vote for the U.S. president this coming November, a triumph for the Democratic challenger John Kerry would be assured. Never has a U.S. president been so disliked in Europe as George W. Bush."

[ixion]

1. Never in the US has a president been so vehemently disliked by so many

and never has a pResident been so deserving of being disliked.